Demon Kissed

by Patti O’Shea

  She didn’t want to know how she knew this.

  But Bree had a bad feeling it had to do with the other thing she understood now—she did have demon blood. With the block in her mind gone, she could see how it had been constructed after her parents’ deaths. Her mentor had been the one who had killed her mother and he’d gotten custody of Bree, systematically brainwashing her from the age of three. A sob escaped her.

  Andras tightened his arms around her. His instant support threatened to unleash the floodgates, but Bree refused to cry. Tears didn’t do any good, but as his hands stroked lightly up and down her back, she couldn’t contain them.

  It took a while before his voice penetrated and she realized Andras crooned the same thing over and over, “It’s going to be all right. It’ll all be fine.”

  When she had some control, she propped herself up on his chest. “It’s not all right.” Her voice came out barely above a whisper, but she could hardly manage that much. “Everything was a lie. I’m a lie.”

  “You’re not a lie. You were lied to, there’s a difference.”

  Bree shook her head vehemently. “You don’t get it, I don’t know who I am anymore.”

  “You’re still Bree Molina. You’re still courageous, you’re still strong, and you’re still my love. The only thing that’s changed is what you know about yourself.”

  For a long moment, she thought about what he said, then Bree tightened her thighs around his, wanting to keep him close. Everything might be a lie, but he wasn’t and neither was what she felt for him. Until she found her balance again, Andras would keep her safe. She trusted that and she trusted him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Andras maneuvered his motorcycle through the predawn streets of Los Angeles. Bree had her arms wrapped around his waist and he wished he could relax and enjoy the warmth of her body against his. Hell, if it came down to it, he wished they were in bed, naked and pleasuring each other, but the portal’s opening was imminent and they had to cross before it closed again. The next opportunity to enter the other world was nearly four days away and he doubted they’d live that long.

  Not when Raum would hunt them with unrelenting determination.

  Of course, there wasn’t any guarantee they’d live to see sunrise today. They’d have to fight to use the gateway and Raum would have help with him. There was no malice involved, but his counterpart wouldn’t step aside and allow them to visit the demon king. Their training was to give no quarter.

  Andras pulled the bike over to the curb a couple of blocks away from the portal. They’d already concealed their energy so that no demon could sense them and they would go in on foot from here.

  After Bree dismounted, he got off and hooked their helmets to the motorcycle. The area looked as if it had been firebombed, but he didn’t waste magic to protect the bike. Chances were good that his aura was embedded deeply enough in the metal to keep humans away. He shrugged. If it was stolen or damaged, it was replaceable and he needed all his power for the battle to come.

  Instead of moving immediately toward the gateway, he considered his mate. She was distracted and that wasn’t good, not when she had to fight with him.

  He moved nearer and ran his thumb over her cheekbone. “Love,” he said softly, “I understand you’re reeling, but I need you with me, not lost in thought.”

  Bree jerked her gaze to his. “I’m sorry. I’ll be focused by the time we reach the portal.”

  “Not good enough. You know that as well as I do.”

  “Yeah.” She reached up and put her hand over his, stopping his caress. “Will you send how to use my demon powers again? I don’t feel comfortable with that yet.”

  Andras nodded and telepathically transmitted the information to Bree. The damn thing was that no matter how many times he shared this, there was nothing he could say or do that would make reaching for her new abilities instinctive and even a split-second delay gave Raum the edge.

  She was adjusting fast—Bree had already stopped shying away from their mind link—but she needed more time to accept at every level that she was a demon. Time they didn’t have. If he could defeat their adversaries on his own, it wouldn’t be an issue, but he and Raum were about equal in strength. Andras had to be able to focus solely on the other executioner.

  After sending the knowledge, he stayed close to Bree. They could spare a minute more. He studied her face, wanting to memorize every nuance…just in case. Then, leaning forward, he kissed her slowly, trying to indelibly imprint this sensation on his very soul. She clung to him, kissing him back intently.

  With more than a little regret, he lifted his head. Bree understood as well as he did that they might not be successful. He wished— Andras shook his head. Wishes were useless.

  “We need to go, don’t we?” she asked, but didn’t step back.

  “Yes.” He didn’t move either. When they’d mated, he’d opened himself to her, allowed her to share everything, so she knew how he felt about her. But she’d been raised human and in that culture words were necessary. Andras wanted to make sure she had no doubts.

  “Bree.” He waited until her full attention was centered on him. “I love you, and even if you weren’t my mate, you’d have my heart.”

  Her chin wobbled before she regained control. “You don’t think we’re going to make it, do you?”

  “You’ll make it.” If Andras did nothing else, he’d ensure that. “I already told you how to find the demon king. Use the portal and follow what I sent you. Everything will be fine.”

  Bree laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “You expect me to focus after saying that?” She shook her head. “Listen up, mate of mine, if I’m crossing that gate, you damn well better be with me and that’s an order, mister, understood?”

  That statement was so Bree, Andras couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll do my best. I can’t promise more than that.”

  She tightened her grip as he tried to step away. Going up on her toes, she put her lips close to his and murmured, “One last kiss.”

  It was explosive enough to rock Andras. For the first time, Bree held almost nothing back and her feelings for him left him humbled. And even more determined that she survive. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his body. She fit exactly right. Even a lifetime with her wouldn’t be long enough, damn it, and demons lived thousands of years.

  In the back of his mind, his internal clock ticked incessantly and forced Andras to end their embrace. It took him a long moment to find his self-command. “We have to go.”

  Bree had been anxious about battle in the past, she’d even been scared a few times, but she’d never known the kind of all-out terror she felt right now. From what Andras had said, from what she’d discerned through their link despite his efforts to hide it, she knew he’d decided that if it came down to it, he’d sacrifice his life for hers. She wanted to argue until he understood that wasn’t a viable option, but there was nothing that would shake his resolve.

  Because she’d learned something else. As urgent as her desire to defend him was, a demon male’s need to protect his mate was a hundred times stronger. It was instinctive and not something she could talk him out of, no matter how much she wanted to.

  To only have one night with Andras— Bree cut the thought off quickly. If she went down that path, she’d be useless and the fight would be over before it started.

  She didn’t need to be told when they grew close to the portal. Bree could sense it and she shivered despite wearing her jacket. She wanted to turn and run, dragging her mate with her, but there was nowhere they could hide. Not indefinitely.

  Andras needed her to be strong and Bree was determined to be calm. When she had it, she opened the link between them. It would be easier to fight together if they knew what the other planned.

  Get your protective shield up, Andras growled in her head.

  Bree did it without snarling back because she could feel the concern that drove his testiness. Taking a deep breath, she l
ocked down her emotions and drew her dagger. Maybe she had demon powers, but there was no reason why she couldn’t use her blade, too.

  He pulled up short at the corner of a graffiti-covered building and Bree went up on her toes to peer over his shoulder. Her gaze zeroed in on the vacant lot in the middle of the block, and though nothing was visible except crumbled brick and garbage, she could feel the pulse of the portal. It took her a second longer to spot the pair of demon males guarding it.

  Their enemy had only brought one friend to the party. A quick scan showed her why—demon number two looked stronger than any she’d fought before and nearly as powerful as Raum himself.

  Sneaking up on them wasn’t a possibility, not the way they were positioned. That left a full-frontal assault as their only option. Andras came to the same conclusion. He pulled his arm back and called down two enormous bolts of lightning.

  Sharing thoughts helped, and when her mate charged, she was with him. The lightning exploded against the pair’s shields. As the brightness faded, the demons remained standing.

  Andras shot more lightning as he ran. Bree tried to do the same, but found she could either move or fire—she couldn’t do both. Cursing, she kept running. Her own shield lit up continually, but it held. Of course, she wasn’t the primary target—both demons were zeroing in on Andras. She was a liability, damn it, something she swore she’d never be.

  Bree ran harder. If her new powers weren’t awesome, well, she’d killed plenty of these bastards with her blade.

  Demon number two shifted attention to her as she drew close. He was expecting her to strike with the dagger, so she launched a flying side kick at him. She caught him in the center of the chest, driving him back a step.

  As soon as she landed, she spun to face him, but he was already out of range of her knife. Drawing from the earth as Andras had told her, Bree gathered power and shot fire.

  Her attempt looked pathetic, like a sparkler amid fireworks.

  Tightening her grip on the haft, she rushed her adversary. With a casual flick, he let loose with a fireball that made her stumble.

  She tried a second time with the same results. And while she was useless, Andras was getting hit from both demons.

  How long could he continue being double-teamed before his protection fell? And why wasn’t her firepower good enough? Her heritage was supposed to be dark and that meant she should be able to do better than this.

  Bree tapped into the earth again, drew power with all her strength and focused as she fired. Slightly better, but her demon swatted it away as if it were an annoying mosquito.

  She couldn’t let Andras fight on his own. Maybe she wasn’t anything more than a gadfly, but she’d be the biggest damn gadfly possible. With a growl, she raced at demon number two. He fired at her, but she dodged and kept coming. When she neared, he let loose with another shot. She was too close to evade it by jumping to the side, so Bree dived low and hit him at the knees.

  He fell and Bree was on him in a heartbeat.

  Just as quickly he tossed her away, sending her sailing a good twenty feet. The landing knocked the air out of her and she gasped, trying to suck in oxygen as she struggled to her feet.

  And in that moment, she felt Andras’s grimness. Her vision cleared enough to see the two demons had him pinned between them and both were firing nonstop. Her mate staggered and she swallowed the urge to scream his name.

  If she didn’t figure out how the hell to fight and fast, the man she loved with all her heart was going to die.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Bree squared her shoulders and charged back into the fray. Jumping on the nearest demon, she muscled his head back with one arm while she brought her blade around with her right. The tip barely touched Raum’s throat before he sent her flying. It took her longer to regain her feet after this landing.

  She hadn’t done much, but she had bought Andras time to find a more defensible position.

  And now he was concerned about her, his attention fragmented. Bree risked sending him a reassurance that she was okay. She needed to be an asset, though. Somehow.

  Why couldn’t she master the demon weaponry?

  Her shots should be nearly as powerful as the males they were fighting, but they weren’t. So why the hell not?

  Because, love, Andras sent and she could feel his exhaustion, you view demon powers as something outside yourself. You have to accept them as part of you and—

  His thought was cut off abruptly as he took a hit. Bree watched her mate slam into the side of a building from the force and a red haze of fury filled her. She didn’t fight the emotion, she embraced it, and this time when she pulled power, it seemed different.

  She didn’t waste time thinking about it, she fired. This was no weak shot. It exploded against demon number two’s shield with enough strength to make his knees sag.

  That drew his attention away from Andras.

  Bree twisted out of the way as her enemy sent a rope of fire toward her. She let loose once more—and had another sputtering sad little ball of nothing peter out before it reached him.

  What had she done that made her last shot successful?

  Ducking another blast, Bree hurriedly tried to figure it out. And then what Andras had told her registered—she’d been viewing the powers as demonic, something that didn’t belong to her. She was using them, but keeping them as far away from herself as possible—kind of like holding out a smelly sock.

  When she’d gotten angry, she hadn’t kept them distant, but had brought them inside herself. Wielded them as she would her dagger. That was the difference.

  And while she didn’t like it, she was more demon than human. Her mate, the man she loved, was totally demon. If they both lived long enough, their children would be much, much more demon than human.

  Bree dropped to the ground to avoid a lightning bolt, then rolled to her feet, evading another.

  These powers weren’t something alien or barbaric. They were as much a part of her as her brown eyes and dark hair. Maybe she wasn’t as practiced with them as she was with a blade, but she’d been successful once. She could do it again.

  This time as she pulled in the energy, she let it swirl inside herself, building and growing. When it felt so big that she couldn’t contain it any longer, Bree fired.

  This was no pathetic shot. Demon number two’s shield faltered, weakened by the blows Andras had already landed. She sent another blast, but she was too slow to recharge and lost her advantage.

  But she knew how to use her powers—she wasn’t a liability any longer—and she had her adversary’s full attention. Andras only had to worry about Raum now.

  She swayed when one of the demon’s shots connected.

  The drawback was that now that she had his focus, she was going to have to withstand some blows. Bree strengthened her protection, and gritting her teeth, she sheathed her dagger, preparing herself for a rock-em, sock-em magical slugfest.

  As they fired back and forth at each other, she gave as good as she got.

  Sweat covered her body and a rivulet ran down her temple, but Bree smiled. Her opponent was pissed off, and with high emotion in control, she had the edge.

  Confident, she pulled deeply and felt some last resistance inside her disintegrate. Being part demon and part human gave her benefits that she’d never realized. Benefits that she welcomed. The acceptance created by that knowledge seemed to strengthen and expand her bond with Andras. Bree opened to that as well.

  And as she fired, she noticed she wasn’t only using her strength, but she’d drawn from her mate as well.

  It terrified her that she’d left him at a disadvantage, but she didn’t dare let her concentration waver. Demon number two got a shot off a split second before hers connected. Bree pivoted to avoid it and heard her foe cry out. She turned back in time to see him weave, to feel his shield go down.

  With everything she could muster, she fired at him again. He fell and didn’t move. She freed her blade and charged, prepa
red to drive it into his heart. Bree stopped before she reached him. He was already dead.

  Putting the dagger away, she leaned forward, braced both hands on her thighs and gasped in air. She needed a minute, then she’d join Andras. But as she stood there, trying to recharge, she felt her mate pulling from her much the same way she’d done from him earlier. She looked over in time to see Raum hit the ground. He didn’t get up.

  “You look like hell,” she told Andras when he reached her.

  “I feel worse. You’re okay?” Bree felt him scanning her for injury even as he asked the question.

  “I’m doing better than you are.” Because he’d taken a lot more punishment than she had. Her fault.

  Before she could kick herself, her mate slid an arm around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “No, don’t blame yourself. As powerful as Raum is, I’d be in about the same shape even if his buddy hadn’t attacked me, too. Besides, demons heal fast. A couple of hours and you’ll never know I was in a fight.”

  Somehow that didn’t improve Bree’s mood, but she wrapped both arms around Andras and hung on tight. “I love you, you know that, right?”

  “I know.” But he smiled and some of the tension left his face.

  From the corner of her eye, she caught a flickering blue light and turned her head in time to see a glowing doorway flare into existence. Bree glanced up at Andras.

  He nodded. “Time to see the demon king.”

  The sun was up when she and Andras exited the other world and returned to Los Angeles. Bree looked around, but everything seemed suddenly unfamiliar.

  She’d changed. In a few hours her entire perspective on the world had shifted and it left her feeling as if she stood atop quicksand. “Well,” she said, trying to ignore how unsettled she was, “that was anticlimactic. Your king listened to us and then pretty much said, yeah, okay.”

  “Not quite. You’re on probation.”